Riverton man bound over to district court in connection with theft of $61K truck from Fremont Motors

By Ernie Over, managing editor, County10.com

(Riverton, Wyo.) – A 27-year-old man who allegedly got into a fight with two Fremont County Detention Center Deputies inside the facility last Saturday was bound over to Fremont County District Court for trial for his role in a truck theft from a Riverton car dealer on Tuesday, April 9th. The ruling was handed down Wednesday afternoon in Fremont County Circuit Court in Riverton by Judge Wesley A. Roberts.

Kristopher C. Simmons-Patrick is accused of driving away with a 2013 Ford F350 pickup truck valued at $61,355 from Fremont Motors and leaving the car dealership an insufficient funds check for the vehicle.

According to an affidavit filed to support the charges, Riverton Police Officer Gilbert Peck was called to Fremont Motors’ Ford and Lincoln dealership in Riverton
“on a report of a person who test drove a new vehicle and refused to return with it.”

The man is alleged to have arrived at the dealership stating that he wanted to buy a new truck, and that it should be an F-350, according to information in the affidavit. Salesman David Greth and Simmons-Patrick went on a test drive in a white Ford F-350 Crew Cab pickup. When the two agreed upon a price, the two went to Wells Fargo Bank. While Greth waited in the truck, Simmons-Patrick went inside and after more than an hour, reappeared stating he had a check for the truck and the two returned to the dealership. The man then said he wanted to “show his wife” the truck and the two picked up a woman identified in court documents at Dawnicia Conner. When they returned to the dealership, Simmons-Patrick left the woman’s drivers license with the dealership and the two left, not to return.

After they left on the test drive, Fremont Motors manager Scott Ross was presented with an envelope containing Simmons-Patrick’s check for $59,815, according to the affidavit, which was written on a new account at Wells Fargo. According to the court document, Simmons-Patrick spent the hour in the bank discussing the alleged fraudulent use of his checking account, and he opened a new account with funds from the alleged fraudulent activity to be used to fund the new account. The amount of the funds involved was only $800, according to a bank official. The bank also indicated that the man did not discuss a loan for the new truck.

Simmons-Patrick is alleged to have Conner that he needed her as a licensed driver for the second test drive, and that he dropped her off at her residence. He is then alleged to have told the woman “that he liked the vehicle and was not going to return it.” He also told her “he was going to get his wife and his belongings and head to Texas,” according to the affidavit.

Simmons-Patrick was charged with two felonies, Larceny and Fraud by Check, each carrying a fine of not more than $10,000 and imprisonment of not more than 10 years.

After the man’s arrest, he was implicated in an assault against two detention center deputies, Jacob Halsmer and Joel Laird, in an incident reported at 6:56 p.m. from inside the jail on Saturday, April 13th.

A District Court arraignment has not yet been set and Simmons-Patrick remains in custody.